Yu Lingshan was very satisfied with Xu Shi’s expression.
The video was only about two minutes long. Short, yet… two minutes of kissing was actually quite long.
When the video ended, the look of astonishment was still on Xu Shi’s face. She looked up at Yu Lingshan and saw her wiping her hands with a triumphant expression.
“Anything you’d like to say, Miss Xu?” Yu Lingshan tilted her head, looking at Xu Shi.
Xu Shi swallowed. “Is that me?”
“Oh?” Yu Lingshan said. “Who else?”
Xu Shi was speechless.
At a loss, Xu Shi touched her bangs. She heard Yu Lingshan say, “You can watch it again.”
Xu Shi did want to watch it again. She bit her lip, stole another glance at Yu Lingshan, and then played the video.
The second viewing was different from the first. Xu Shi already knew what would happen at which point, when she would make her move, but even so, she couldn’t help but be shocked.
After watching it, she handed the phone back to Yu Lingshan, then raised her hands and covered her face.
Through the gaps between her fingers, she saw Yu Lingshan laughing at her.
Although this wasn’t really a matter of success or failure, in the current situation, Yu Lingshan was clearly the victor standing before her.
Xu Shi’s mind was racing. She remembered the day after she first slept over at Yu Lingshan’s house, the things Yu Lingshan had said that she didn’t understand—something about being impressive, something about whether she had ever been in a relationship.
Back then, she had been too afraid of Yu Lingshan and lacked the skills to communicate with her. She didn’t dare say or ask anything. If she understood, she understood; if she didn’t, she let it go.
But things were different now.
Xu Shi lowered her hands a little, revealing her eyes, and asked, “So you were complimenting my kissing skills back then.”
Yu Lingshan had just taken a sip of water and nearly choked.
She put the glass down and looked at Xu Shi. “Your technique after drinking is indeed much better than when you’re sober.”
Xu Shi pressed on, “Better in what way?”
As luck would have it, Xu Shi had washed some cherries that morning.
Yu Lingshan bit into a cherry and handed the stem to Xu Shi.
Xu Shi took it, confused. “What for?”
Yu Lingshan picked up another one and tied the stem into a knot. “Put it in your mouth and tie this knot. No hands.”
Xu Shi was stunned. “How is that possible?”
Yu Lingshan gave her a look that said, You can do it. “Try.”
So Xu Shi put it in her mouth and tried, but a few seconds later, she took the cherry stem out, completely unchanged.
“I can’t do it,” Xu Shi said.
Yu Lingshan smiled. “Unbelievable.”
Xu Shi guessed, “I can do that when I’m drunk?”
Yu Lingshan smiled. “What do you think?”
It seemed she could.
Xu Shi asked again, “What all did I do with you when I was drunk?”
“We had sex,” Yu Lingshan said.
Xu Shi was shocked. “Huh? For real?”
“Do you think that’s possible?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then it’s not possible.”
Xu Shi was on the verge of tears. “Just tell me.”
“Everything but making love.”
It was about time. Yu Lingshan drank the last bit of water on the table, stood up, and said nothing more.
Xu Shi’s gaze followed her movements, her eyes asking, That’s it?
Yu Lingshan smiled, feigning ignorance. “What’s wrong?”
“Aren’t you going to settle the score with me? Just tell me clearly.”
“Nope.” Yu Lingshan let down the hair she had tied back. “Let you have a taste of being left hanging.”
Yu Lingshan really knew how to handle Xu Shi, always playing her cards unconventionally, leaving Xu Shi’s heart in limbo.
“Then how long are you going to leave me hanging?” Xu Shi asked.
“When I have time, I guess. Then I’ll settle things with you properly.” Her tone was utterly self-righteous. “Consider today a chance for you to mentally prepare. This is just a small part of it; we’ll take our time with the rest.” Yu Lingshan looked at Xu Shi. “So when the time comes, you can figure out for yourself whether you’ll be kneeling or licking.”
Yu Lingshan’s teasing made Xu Shi laugh. “How can you be like this?”
Yu Lingshan shrugged, her posture perfectly conveying, This is just how I am.
“So when will you have time?”
“That’s hard to say,” Yu Lingshan said smugly. “Wait for my notice.”
Xu Shi was speechless.
Yu Lingshan started to head back to her room, but after two steps, she suddenly turned back and pinched Xu Shi’s cheek. “Is it just me you kiss when you’re drunk?”
Xu Shi nodded. “Only you.”
Yu Lingshan didn’t believe her. “You were drunk. How can you be so sure?”
Xu Shi raised her hands. “It’s true. I’ve only been drunk twice before, and I was with classmates and friends. They said I just get sleepy after drinking, nothing else happens.”
Yu Lingshan let out a “hmph” before finally letting go of Xu Shi and returning to the bedroom.
A short while later, Yu Lingshan emerged from the bedroom. Her makeup was done, her clothes were changed, and her shoes were on. She came out and patted Xu Shi’s head. “Be good at home.”
“Okay,” Xu Shi said. “I’ll head home in a bit.”
Yu Lingshan picked up her bag from the coffee table. “That works too.” Then she suddenly lowered her head. “Where’s the rug?”
“On the balcony.”
“You washed it?” Yu Lingshan asked, surprised.
“Yeah.”
Yu Lingshan smiled helplessly. “Was it easy to wash?”
“It was okay. I asked my mom. She said to just scrub it and let it dry in the sun.”
“You asked your mom?” Yu Lingshan was puzzled.
“Ah,” Xu Shi said, quickly shaking her head. “No, no.” She laughed. “Of course not. I definitely didn’t tell her.”
Yu Lingshan patted Xu Shi’s head again, then suddenly leaned in.
Xu Shi thought Yu Lingshan was going to kiss her and even puckered her lips, but Yu Lingshan changed direction, lowering her head to suck on her neck and nibble her earlobe.
It tickled, and Xu Shi shrank back. “Haha.”
“Alright,” Yu Lingshan said, heading for the door. “I really have to go. Tingting is downstairs.”
“Go on.”
Yu Lingshan said goodbye to Xu Shi, adding, “Remember this date. A hundred days from now, one year, three years, five years…” With one hand on the doorknob, she pointed at Xu Shi with the other. “I’m going to quiz you.”
Xu Shi’s eyes curved into crescents. “Okay, Teacher Yu.”
After Yu Lingshan left, Xu Shi suddenly felt empty, not knowing what to do.
But there really wasn’t much to do. Xu Shi wandered around Yu Lingshan’s apartment for a bit, changed her clothes, and went home.
Bored in the car, Xu Shi seriously thought about the times she had gotten drunk around Yu Lingshan.
Then she remembered: every time she drank, Yu Lingshan would get angry. If it was because she kissed Yu Lingshan every time, only to wake up and not acknowledge it, not remembering a thing…
That would indeed be quite infuriating.
Xu Shi smiled just thinking about it.
Yu Lingshan must have been so frustrated, hahahahaha.
So, the first thing Xu Shi did when she got downstairs was buy a bag of cherries. She then took a few stems back to her room.
She stared at a stem for a while, thought for a moment, and then popped it into her mouth.
Strangely, this time, for some reason, she actually succeeded.
She actually succeeded?!
She really knew how to do it!
Taking the knotted cherry stem out of her mouth, Xu Shi still couldn’t quite believe it. She tried again with another one.
And another one.
Hahahaha, it wasn’t that hard.
After tying two more, before her mouth got sore, Xu Shi took some books from her cabinet, stacked them up to make a phone stand, and started recording a video.
“Dear Teacher Yu,” Xu Shi smiled at the camera. “Please watch.”
After speaking, she put a new cherry stem in her mouth, moved her mouth a bit, and then took it out.
“Hey! Success.”
Xu Shi held the knot close to the camera, then stood up.
She was about to stop the video but forgot she had just opened the cabinet, and her head slammed into the door…
Yu Lingshan received the video during a boring meeting. With an earbud in, she played it.
She watched the Xu Shi in the video smugly take out a cherry stem, smugly tie it in a knot in her mouth, and then smugly take it out, a look of pure showing off on her face.
Then she saw her stand up and knock her head on the cabinet. In that instant, time seemed to rewind for Yu Lingshan. It was as if she was seeing the college-aged Xu Shi again.
She didn’t know if it hurt, but Xu Shi was certainly smiling happily.
Yu Lingshan watched the video several times before replying to Xu Shi: Aren’t you clever.
On the other end, Xu Shi received the message and immediately flopped onto her bed.
Xu Shi: Of course.
Xu Shi asked: Can you do it?
Yu Lingshan: Actually…
Yu Lingshan: I can’t.
Xu Shi sent a sticker, and Yu Lingshan didn’t reply. She guessed Yu Lingshan was busy, so she decided not to bother her.
That day, many new things crashed into Xu Shi’s mind. She lay there, slowly digesting it all.
She re-watched the videos of Yu Lingshan in her favorites folder.
Especially the interview where Yu Lingshan talked about that girl. She had to watch that video three times to properly savor it.
Then she scrolled through her old Weibo posts, but she had deleted so many that there was almost nothing left.
After that, she went to scroll through Yu Lingshan’s Weibo.
As she scrolled, she fell asleep. Just like that, the day passed.
Xu Shi waited all day for Yu Lingshan to contact her. By evening, she hadn’t heard from Yu Lingshan, but she did hear from Weiwei.
Weiwei’s first message was: So how are you two?
Xu Shi knew what Weiwei was asking, but she replied first: We’re together.
Weiwei: Whoa!
Weiwei: Congrats, congrats, congrats!
Weiwei: And, you know… was it good?
Xu Shi: LMAO, there was no time at all.
Xu Shi told Weiwei that Yu Lingshan was busy today and also sent her the cherry stem video.
Xu Shi: Can you do this?
Weiwei: You’re amazing! Amazing! You can even do this!
Xu Shi: You can’t?
Weiwei replied several minutes later: Not only can I not do it, my girlfriend can’t either.
Weiwei: You’re incredible, you really are.
Weiwei: My girlfriend says you have the mouth of a natural top.
Weiwei: I believe you’re a 1 now.
Weiwei: Put it to use!
If this had been a month ago, Xu Shi wouldn’t have understood.
But now, Xu Shi was enlightened. She got it instantly.
Late that night, Xu Shi finally received a message from Yu Lingshan.
Unfortunately, the message was a screenshot of a flight itinerary. Yu Lingshan said: Last-minute business trip. I’ll be back in two days.
Xu Shi zoomed in on the picture, then zoomed out. Zoomed out, then zoomed in.
Alright, the third bucket of cold water was poured.
Xu Shi: Okay.
Yu Lingshan: Will you miss me, baby?
Xu Shi: I will, I will, I will.
Of course, she would.
The next day, Xu Shi went to work as usual. The preliminary round of the competition was on Wednesday morning, so she had a lot to prepare.
The two of them were no different than before. They’d say a few words when bored, then put their phones aside when they had to work. They didn’t talk about anything in particular, yet they talked about everything.
But there might have been something a little wrong with Xu Shi. Just thinking about her current status as Yu Lingshan’s girlfriend made her unable to stop smiling to herself.
For no reason at all, she would sometimes smile during a meeting, then hold it in for fear of being discovered, scaring herself in the process.
On Tuesday afternoon, Yu Lingshan sent over the photo Xiao Qing had taken of them and ordered Xu Shi to set it as her wallpaper.
Xu Shi didn’t even need to be told; she had already done it.
After she showed Yu Lingshan her completed assignment, Yu Lingshan sent two stickers in a row.
One was 【Wifey is so good】.
The next was 【Kneel for wifey】.
Xu Shi raised an eyebrow and quickly replied: I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy.
Xu Shi: What’s wrong?
She then added both stickers to her collection.
Yu Lingshan: I can’t make it back tonight, so I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.
Xu Shi’s fingers froze over her phone screen.
The fourth bucket of cold water was poured.
Xu Shi: It’s okay, work is important.
She then turned around and sent the photo to Weiwei.
It was just a photo, with no caption, but the air was thick with a certain smugness.
Weiwei replied: Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk.
Weiwei: The way Yu Lingshan looks at you, tsk.
Xu Shi opened the photo to look, then asked: What about it?
Weiwei: She looks like she really loves you.
Xu Shi: Just looks like it?
Weiwei: Hahahahaha, I get it, I get it.
Weiwei: Does Yu Lingshan know you’re showing off like this behind her back?
Xu Shi: Huh? Was I showing off? I don’t think so.
Weiwei: You smug woman in love!
That evening, as Xu Shi was checking her submission for the next day on her computer, her phone suddenly rang.
It was a video call from Yu Lingshan. Xu Shi first checked her reflection and fixed her hair before answering.
On the other end, Yu Lingshan had probably just gotten out of the shower, a towel wrapped around her head.
“What are you up to?” Yu Lingshan asked.
Xu Shi turned the camera to show Yu Lingshan her computer screen.
It wasn’t the first time Yu Lingshan had seen the design. She hummed in acknowledgment, then took off the towel, letting her hair down.
Xu Shi immediately burst out laughing.
Yu Lingshan was exasperated. “You can laugh at this?”
Xu Shi bit her tongue. “You’re so pretty, wifey.”
The moment she said it, she became embarrassed and quickly moved out of the frame, leaving Yu Lingshan laughing uncontrollably on the other side.
“Help me, Xu Xiao Zhi, why are you so funny?”
Xu Shi returned to the screen a moment later. She didn’t do anything, just cupped her face and watched Yu Lingshan fix her hair.
As she watched, she thought she saw something.
Xu Shi blinked, suddenly alert. “Is that a sanitary pad on your nightstand?”
Hearing this, Yu Lingshan looked behind her. “Yeah, what’s wrong?”
Xu Shi’s smile gradually faded. “You’re on your period?”
“Yeah, it started the day before yesterday.”
Xu Shi froze.
The fifth bucket of cold water.
Poured…
